Donna's Den

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ok, I'm back on track thanks to Cindi last night. Apparently, there is a nice EYELET in my sweater now. Well, not exactly nice, but you know what I mean. I will have to do a repair job when I go to block the sweater. But that won't be until I'm done (har har). I'm hoping it disappears before I get to that point.

Needless to say, I'm sitting next to Cindi on the plane.

Her daughter, Brianna, is going with us. She's the nearly 17 year old. A very mature nearly 17 year old. Cindi said that Brianna is having a tough time trying to decide WHICH knitting project to bring. I told Cindi to tell Brianna not to bring anything. I will keep her busy all on my lonesome!!

And the other gal, Thelma, is going to be doing the exact same project I am doing. Too bad it's not the same color yard or I'd accidently mix up our projects, no? :)

Oh, and I heard from the pattern company last night about their mistake in the pattern. The gal sounded so sweet in her email. How is that possible? I think I sound like a horse in my emails to others. But I digress...She said that there are NO ERRORS in that pattern. That's it's exactly right. Now, I'm a beginner but I know it's wrong. And Cindi says it's wrong. We can't both be wrong, can we? I forwarded her email to Cindi. She's the final word.

We'll we're off tomorrow. I can hardly wait. I'm working today and it's going to be so BUSY I won't have time to think about knitting.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Ok...one of the gals came by the house yesterday and told me to frog it. But she said to do it one stitch at a time. Like unknitting. It's called tink'ing. Tink is knit spelled backwards. (I am learning so much so quickly!)

So, I tinked yesterday afternoon. Took it out just back to the error and started again. When I had finished the row, I counted my stitches. 116. Great, right? Wrong. It's suppose to be 114. ARRGGHH.

So, I knitted/purled to where the extra two stitches were and knitted two together. No one will know but you and I. The error won't be seen as this piece is the back and I'm starting at the bottom and it's going to hang at my high hip. If anyone sees it...I have permission to smack them, right?

So...I'm knitting and purling along and all of a sudden, I see another funny stitch. Not funny ha-ha, funny strange. Great! I set it aside and do something else. Like call my psychiatrist. (KIDDING)

Tonight I am going to take it to Cindi and she will get me started again.

Rhonda told me that I'm doing an intermediate project and I am a self-declared beginner. So, I mentioned this to Cindi. She said yes, it's intermediate, but that I can do it. (Pray for me, Rhonda!)

You know...if others weren't taking THEIR knitting along and I would not have the undivided attention of three other experienced knitters on this trip....I would not be doing this.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I'm heading to Houston on Wednesday for the Houston Int'l Quilt Market. There are four of us ladies going...and we range in age from nearly 17 to 75! I am so looking forward to getting away, even though it may turn into a working vacation. Because we'll be buying goodies for the quilt shop.

Anyway, the ladies have all stated that they're taking their knitting along. Well, I hate being left out AND since all three of them are experts at knitting, this is actually the perfect time for me to start a project and take it along. I mean, I'll have three expert teachers at my beck and call. What could be better, you ask? Take a look at the project I've started. Here is a mistake already and the plane hasn't left the ground yet.

None of these ladies is available to me today, so I've been scouring the internet and found some really great knitting sites. After all that research, I believe the best course of action is to frog it. (knitting term meaning 'rip it'. I did not make that up!)

Below is another shot of the mistake. I don't know what happened. But it will need to be redone.

Here is the pattern I'm making with the yarn, too. It's merino wool, cashmere and silk. Sweet, no?

Like I said earlier, I am not an experienced knitter. But I was forced to email the company because this pattern is printed WRONG. It's a simple basket weave pattern. Knit 4, purl 4, etc. After 4 rows, you purl a row and then knit a row (on the right side of the sweater, it will look like two rows of purling). Then you have to look at what you did below and if you did 4 knits, then you have to do 4 purls. Hence the basketweave pattern. But what I gave you above is not the pattern that's printed in the book. I nicely pointed this out to the company and asked them to send me a corrected pattern, but I have yet to hear from them.

So, I'm heading in to my sewing room and will carefully FROG this out. The counting is difficult. After I've done my two rows of straight purl/knit, I have to begin counting to 4 again making sure that I'm doing the opposite pattern I've done below those two rows. The problem begins when I start my 2nd row of the pattern. I can't tell what my first row was. It's mildly frustrating. Good thing this is the lower back of the sweater. But still, I want it to be right.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Well, I got this pattern, ruler and great fabric and decided to take a break from Dave's quilt and sew up these spiral table runner thingys.

Here is one all done. This is the varigated thread I'm going to stipple it with tomorrow (cause we're off to the car races tonight).

And here is a large shot of it all done. I'm making two of them. One in these teal colors and the other in purple Asian fabrics. Now, normally, I dislike Asian fabric, but in this case I am making an exception.

Oh, the bonding part. I've had my Singer 222 since March and I haven't sewed much with it because it's seems stiff and not smooth at all. Husband said it's because it's in such pristine condition, that it isn't "broken in yet". So, I decided to remedy that.

I took it out the other day and oiled/lubed all the right spots and set it up next to my Bernina. I'm sewing with it to break it in and it actually is alot smoother than I remember. Here is the other colorway fabric I'm using for that spiral thing.

This tablerunner look simple, but actually they are not for the faint of heart. You need a long 10 degree ruler and then you've got to cut all these wedge shapes. Now I'm right handed, so the right hand side of the ruler and the top are easy. But trying to cut the left side of the ruler is not fun.

I guess after two of these, I'll be better at it.

Another shot of "Pete" (named for the man I bought him from). Now to just keep him out and sew with him often to loosen him up is just the trick I need.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. Our summer weather is holding on. Right now, 6:20pm, it's 90 degrees. Take care.

I know, I know...it's been ages since I blogged last. That's only because I've been working on some quilts for a friend's QUILT BOOK that she is writing and I can't show you here what I'm doing. But how lucky am I to get to sew the book's samples!!

But, in the meantime, one of my favorite cousins contacted me and wanted me to make him a quilt. He had one made by our grandmother and was describing it to me at our yearly family reunion. I never got one, but he and several of my cousins did. (I was on the younger end of the crowd and only 6 when she died). From what I gather, her quilt was probably 4 inch squares all sewn together and tied with yarn. Nice and sentimental, but boring.

So, I sent Cousin Dave a TON of quilt photos to see what he wanted. He chose the one above. Hopefully, not for it's name.

Next, I determined I had all this fabric in my stash. YEAH! The only problem is is that this quilt is only 36 x 42 inches and won't cover Cousin Dave by much. The blocks are only 9 inches square. So, I asked my quilt shop owner, Cindi, to redo the math. She can do this so easily it's sickening. Anyway, she redid the block so they're 12 inches square and even graciously gave me a flying geese ruler to use. Sweet!

So, Cousin Dave....the above photo is the beginning of your quilt. Double click on any photo you see in my blog to make it larger. (Sorry, it's a bit blurry when you enlarge it) It's a long weekend and I'm starting today. I finished up TWO quilt tops yesterday for the quilt book, so now I'm sewing for myself...er...for you.

I actually can't wait to get started...so I'm off and running. Take care everyone.